Michael K. Williams on Being Typecast

Michael K. Williams was known most famously for his portrayal of Omar Little on HBO’s The Wire. Other roles included Chalky White on Boardwalk Empire—also within the HBO family—as well as Professor Marshall Kane on NBC’s Community.

In 2018, The Atlantic‘s marketing team and HBO joined forces for a series called Question Your Answers, a collection of short films meant to challenge our certainties. Williams starred in one of these films with a deliberation that addressed an ongoing, pivotal question asked by many Black actors in Hollywood: Am I—are we—being typecast?

Julie Bogen is a senior editor at The Atlantic.